Lipstick case



3,032,180 LEPSTHCK CASE Yvan Victor Grisel, Vesenaz, Geneva, Switzerland, as-

signor to Eiectoret SA., Geneva, Switzerland, a Swiss Company, and Etablissement Pako, Vaduz, Liechtenstein, a Liechtenstein company Filed Jan. 19, 1959, Ser. No. 787,448 Claims priority, application Switzerland lan. 29, 1958 1 Claim. (Cl. 20o-56) The present invention relates to a lipstick holder or case and more particularly to the type of lipstick case having means for advancing and retracting the lipstick carrier or cup.

It is an object of the present invention to provide means conducive to a simple yet efficient construction of a lipstick case. A further object of the present invention resides in the provision of means affording a lipstick case which while being cheap to manufacture has a great appeal to the buyer because of the ease of its operation as well as because of its highly attractive exterior appearance.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a lipstick case having means for facilitating the application of lipstick by any user.

A further object of the present invention resides in the provision of means redounding to a very light-weight construction of a lipstick case which readily permits operation without requiring any mechanical talent or skill on the part of the user.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide means envisioning a lipstick case structure which requires a minimum number of parts while permitting to advance and retract the lipstick in a readily controllable and convenient fashion.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide for means implementing important features and cornponents of a lipstick case in which the carrier or cup thereof may be advanced and retracted solely by gravity thereby to perform a linear movement of all parts concerned and in which case the cap or cover of the lipstick case serves the dual purpose of closing the case and of retaining the cup or carrier holding the lipstick proper in the desired positions relative to this case.

'Ihese and other objects of the present invention will become better apparent from the following description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is an axial Isectional view of a first embodiment of the lipstick case in accordance with the invention with the individual parts thereof being represented in closed condition of the lipstick case.

FIG. 2 is an axial sectional View of the lipstick case according to FIG. 1, the lipstick proper being represented as located in position for use.

FIG. 3 is an axial sectional view of a portion of a modified lipstick case, the lipstick being in the position for use.

FIG. 4 is a horizontal sectional view taken along the plane o-f line IV-IV in FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 shows a third embodiment of a lipstick case embodying the invention and illustrated in a closed condition.

It will be seen that the present invention provides for a lipstick case in which openings at both ends of a sleeve or casing are each provided with a shoulder projecting radially inwardly, said shoulders serving as stops for a cup freely movable in said casing therebetween. The shoulders having substantially identical diameters which correspond to the diameter of an inwardly projecting extension of a cap so that said cap and the cup resting 3,032,136 Esatenteoi May l, i362 against said extension thereof in their inserted positions are secured.

Referring now to the drawings in greater detail, it will be seen that the first embodiment of the novel lipstick case shown in FIGS. l and 2 comprises an elongated cylindrical sleeve or casing member 1 made of metal or plastic material of which the two ends are provided with inwardly projecting annular shoulders 2 and 3. These shoulders thus dene circular openings 4- and 5 at respective ends of the sleeve or casing 1.

Slidably arranged in the cylindrical interior chamber 6 of the sleeve or casing 1 is a cylindrical lipstick carrier or cup 7 having annular end surfaces 8 and 9. The end or contact faces 8 and 9 are designed to engage inner surface portions 30 and 31 of the shoulders Z and l3, respectively, and to co-operate with the latter to limit the travel of the carrier 7 in chamber 6 of said casing. Shoulders 2 and 3 form respective inwardly turned or radially extending stop means, which present at openings 4 and 5 inner walls 4a, 5a and further outer surface portions 2a and 3a, respectively. A lipstick 11 of suitable form and having a cylindrical lower end is arranged in a bore 10 of the cup 7. A cap 12 having cover means 12a proper is provided, at the side facing inner walls 4a, 5a of stop means 2, 3 the casing 1 with a sleeve-type extension 13 having a forward end 13a which projects into the interior 6 of the casing through the opening 5 in the position shown in FIG. 1, and which engages the end face 9 of the cup 7 with its free end 13a. The diameter of the sleeve-type extension 13 is so adapted to the diameter of the opening 5 and that of opening 4 in the sleeve 1 that it is firmly seated and frictionally engages inner walls 4a, 5a, respectively, when inserted so that the cap cannot drop out of the sleeve. In addition, the sleeve-type extension 13 serves to hold the cup 7 in one of its retracted end positions, i.e. to bring the cup 7 to rest against inner surface portion 30 of shoulder 2 as shown in FIG. l. In the retracted end position of cup 7 the lipstick 11 carried by the cup is contained in the interior of the casing. If the lipstick is to be moved into position for use i.e. advanced position, the cap 12 with cover part 12a is removed from the outer surface portions 3a of casing 1 so that the sleeve-type extension 13 will be withdrawn from the interior 6. This extension is then inserted into the annular space of the casing through the opening 4 from the opposite side. The free end 13a of the sleevetype extension 13 then engages the end or contact face 8 of carrier 7 and causes the cup or carrier 7 to be moved into its advanced or forward extreme position in which the end face 9 engages inner surface portion 31 of the shoulder 3 and cover 12a abuts against outer surface portion 2a. Owing to the tight seat of the sleeve-type 13 in wall 4a defining opening 4, the cup 7 and the lipstick 11, respectively, are held in this advanced position so that the lipstick can be used with ease.

After use, the lipstick 11 and the cup 7, respectively, are automatically and by gravity moved into their retracted position by removing the cap 12 and its sleevetype extension 13 whereupon the latter is inserted again in the sleeve 1 through opening 5. In its retracted position, the cup 7 is again secured by the sleeve-type extension 13 which surrounds the lipstick with sufficient space tolerance and the guide collar 14 of the cup 7 with some clearance. The guide collar 14 is also provided to hold the lipstick firmly in the cup and to prevent it from being broken out of the cup under the action of lateral forces in application of the lipstick by the user.

Referring now to the embodiment of the lipstick case shown in FlGS. 3 and 4 it will be seen that this case is generally similar to that according to FIGS. 1 and 2. However specifically it differs by the fact that the casing 1 is provided with longitudinal grooves 15 arranged on opposite sides in the internal surface thereof. These grooves are engaged by guiding lobes or projections 16 provided on the cup in diametrically spaced relation. R- tation of the cup and lipstick respectively relative to the sleeve is thereby positively prevented. Moreover the sleeve or casing 1 has its front end equipped with a collar 13 seated on an extension 17 thereof, the collar forming an inwardly directed annular shoulder 19 and defining an opening 20. The shoulder 19 corresponds to the shoulder 3 of the lipstick case of FIGS. 1 and 2 and opening 20 to opening 5 of this lipstick case described above. AThe collar 1S which is retained on the extension 17 by a friction fit or by any other suitable means known in the art may be removed from the casing 1 so that the cup 7 is released and can be removed from the casing 1. It may then be replaced by another cup. This enables lipsticks to be readily interchanged i.e. the lipstick case to be relled with a new lipstick. When replacing the lipstick, it is not necessary to touch the latter since it is `removed and replaced together with its cup. After the replacement cup has been slipped into the interior 6 of the casing 1, the collar 18 may again be placed on the case.

The displacement of the cup from the retracted position to the advanced position is performed by means of the sleeve-type extension 13 of the cap 12 (not shown) disclosed in conjunction with FIGS. 1 and 2.

The lipstick case according to FIG. 5, which largely corresponds to that shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, has its interior 6 provided with a compression spring 21 the ends of which rest on the shoulder 3 and the end face 22 of the cup 7, respectively. The spring therefore tends to force the end face 8 of the cup towards the shoulder 2.

. If the cup is to be moved into its forward position, the

force of the spring 21 must be overcome, which is again performed by inserting the sleeve-type extension 13 into the opening 4. In this modification the sleeve-type extension 13 is here provided with a circumferential bead 23 which engages behind the shoulders 2 and 3, respectively, and, in the latter case, prevents the cup from being displaced by the action of the spring 21. In all other respects, this embodiment corresponds to that of FIGS. 1 and 2. i

It is readily seen that the spring 21 could also be arranged between the cup and the shoulder 2 so that the spring would move the cup into the forward or advanced position instead of into the retracted position as in FIG. 5. It would also be possible, instead of securing the cap 12 to the sleeve 1 by means of bead 23, to provide an interior thread in the shoulders 2 and 3 and an exterior thread in the sleeve-type extension, which latter would have to comprise only a few turns.

If the lipstick case is provided with a removable collar in order to enable the cup to be changed as shown in FIG. 3, the collar may be secured to the sleeve also by a thread or, by way of example, a bayonet catch. The lipstick case may be formed of either plastic or metal; if the cups can be interchanged, asis the case in the embodiment according to FIG. l, the casemay also be made of a precious metal.

Instead of designing the collar 18 so as to be removable in the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, it is possible to attach it rotatably with respect to the casing 1 and to provide it with recesses corresponding to the grooves provided in the shoulder 19. When the recesses in the collar are made to register with the grooves 1S after rotation of the collar relative to the casing, the cup can be removed by passing its lobes 16 through the registering recesses.

The lipstick and cup may be changed readily by elastically deforming the stop shoulders by under force, which is easily possible in the case of a plastic sleeve.

Various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention and it is intended that such obvious changes and modifications be embraced by the annexed claim.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

A lipstick holder unit comprising a hollow cylindrical outer casing terminating at opposite ends in first and second ring flanges disposed perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of said casing, said first and second ring flanges having first and second openings therein of equal diameter and co-axial with said longitudinal axis, the diameter of said openings being less than the diameter of said casing by a small fractional part of the diameter of said casing, a carrier for a lipstick disposed within said casing, said carrier having an upper contact face and a lower contact face, said contact faces having a peripheral dimension larger than the diameter of said openings, said carrier being normally freely slidable within said casing betweeny positions where said upper and lower contact faces abut respectively against the opposed inner facing surfaces of said first and second ring flanges, said casing being free of obstruction to sliding movement of said carrier between ends of said casing, a closing and operating member for said unit, said member comprising a head section and a depending hollow sleeve-type section, the outer diameter of said sleeve-type section throughout its length being at least substantially equal to the diameter of said first and second openings, the base of said head section having a peripheral dimension greater than the diameter of said sleeve-type section, said sleeve-type section having a length between the junction thereof with s'aid head section and the remote tip thereof equal to the distance ber tween the outer surface of said first ring flange and the top face of said carrier whereby when said closing and operating member is disposed with said base of said head section abutting the outer surface of said first ring flange, the side wall portion of said sleeve-type section frictionally engages the side walls of said'iirst opening and the tip of said sleeve-type section engages said top face of said carrier and maintains said lower contact face against the inner face of said second ring flange, and whereby when said sleeve-type section is inserted through said second opening, said side wall portion thereof frictionally engages the side wall portion of said second opening and the tip of said sleeve-type section engages said lower contact face to maintain said carrier in a selected position.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,885,654 Vercelli f ,Nov. 1, 1932 1,965,327 Voelk `luly 3, 1934 2,607,942 Gordon Aug. 26, 1952 2,657,411 Becker Nov. 3, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 593,203 Great Britain Oct. 10, 1947 1,062,365 France Dec. 2, 1953 1,120,742 France Apr. 23, 1956 66,427 France Oct. 22, 1956 (Addition of 1,098,701) 

